Copycat Regime
by DeadlyMongoose
Summary: Naruto learns a few more aspects of the Shadow Clone jutsu, and realizes what he has really desired all along... to be a ruler.
1. Chapter 1

**Copycat Regime**

**Chapter One**

**A Naruto Fanfiction**

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><p>Naruto Uzumaki was a boy no older than twelve, who had only recently learned the jutsu that gave him the ability to create clones, the Shadow Clone jutsu. After saving his teacher, Iruka Umino, from certain death at the hands of the assistant teacher, Mizuki Ibaraki, Naruto was sitting in Training Ground 13, trying to figure out a certain aspect of his new jutsu. Naruto was not a stupid boy; he realized that this jutsu had more uses to it than just a good way to overpower an opponent. When he had dispelled the thousand clones from the fight with Mizuki, he noticed that he had knowledge of exactly how Mizuki was beaten, from every single angle.<p>

It did not take any type of genius to figure out what must have happened. Obviously, the clones somehow retained the memories of their short lives, and when they were dispelled, that knowledge was passed on to the original Naruto. The ways this type of technique could be used was endless, especially since the clones were unfailingly loyal to the original Naruto, and ONLY him. He could only wonder how he could use this technique to further his strength and training so he would become Hokage of the Leaf Village (Konoha) even sooner.

An additional fact about the jutsu that Naruto happened to realize was that anything the original Naruto had on him at the time of using the technique would also be cloned on to each Naruto clone. In theory, if the true Naruto was in possession of 10 kunai, then the clones would each hold 10 kunai, and better yet, they were solid! Naruto could create thousands about thousands of weapons by using this jutsu, if only for a limited time. The real treat though, was the fact that the original Naruto had been holding on to the Forbidden Scroll at the time of the first cloning. Thus, Naruto now held a copy (actually, he held several) of the Forbidden Scroll.

Normally, Naruto would not be using this to his advantage, and would try to immediately return it to the leader of his village, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Yet, Naruto realized the effects that the scroll could have on his training and jutsu repertoire. With that, he decided to overlook the scroll and see what he could add to his skill set (which was currently very small). This was the real reason Naruto had come to this training ground, so he could read the scroll without any type of interruption, and maybe even start to learn a technique or two before turning in for the night.

Opening the scroll, Naruto began to become extremely ecstatic at the chance of being even closer to his final dream of Hokage, so he could become the center of attention for all the people in his village, and eventually… maybe even the entirety of the Shinobi World. As the scroll unraveled, the first technique (the Shadow Clone) appeared to Naruto, and he immediately skipped over it, having no further use of it. The second jutsu seemed to pique his interest much, much more.

"Shadow Clone Explosion, eh?" Naruto smirked while reading aloud, "this is definitely going to be added to my new arsenal of abilities".

Luckily, the jutsu only required the addition of a ram and tiger seal at the end of the normal Shadow Clone jutsu. Quickly memorizing what he had to do, Naruto formed the seals and activated his newest technique. What appeared was the normal shadow clone, but if an individual were to look closely, they could see that it had a bit more chakra radiating off from its cloned body.

"Hmm, I wonder how effective the explosion is", Naruto questioned to himself before reaching for one of his kunai in his right-side pouch. Moving five feet away from the clone, Naruto threw the kunai at the clone's head, waiting to see what happened.

"BOOM!" and the clone detonated, creating a crater that spread 8 feet in diameter. Naruto had been blasted back quite a few yards, yet still extremely conscious and grinning widely.

"Damn, need to make sure not to be as close next time, or put less chakra into the clone", he noted in his mind before walking back to where he had set down the scroll before trying out the jutsu.

His attention now back on the scroll, Naruto slid his gaze a bit lower, looking to see which jutsu was next on the list. His eyes widened as he noticed there were multiple notes on the Shadow Clone jutsu on this list. Given this chance, Naruto decided to see what other abilities his clones had when summoned.

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><p>Shadow Clone Jutsu<p>

Abilities include the following:

1. Can retain memories of their time 'alive', transferring the information back to the original user.

2. Chakra is much more flexible than the original user's, allowing for jutsu to be used in every element, though not to the degree of a master.

3. With enough concentration, the user can form the clones to his or her exact specifications, leading to a specialty in a certain area, or the ability to use jutsu much more efficiently in a certain element.

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><p>Naruto realized now, that he had definitely hit upon a goldmine. This was the start of a new rise for him; he would be able to gain power in no time. He had clones that could specialize in each element at the tips of his fingers. Keeping this in mind, he formed the needed hand seals for the Shadow Clone jutsu, while still concentrating on "FIRE".<p>

As he opened his eyes to see what was created, he saw 30 clones in front of him, with a small flame insignia branded on to each of their foreheads. Seeing that his technique was obviously a success, Naruto decided to quickly move on to the other 4 main elements. As he finished doing the last element, he opened his eyes to see what he had created.

In total, there were 150 clones. 30 of them with the flame insignia, 30 with a small droplet of water, 30 with a lightning bolt, 30 with a small pebble, and 30 with a tornado insignia. As Naruto looked at each group, he smiled to himself, thinking that he could start an army if he really wished to. Before that though, he needed to start training this group of clones.

Looking once again to the scroll, he found a section titled 'ELEMENTAL'. Quickly looking for a jutsu in each element, he memorized what he needed to before he started to let his gaze wander around the scroll once again, where he noticed a section entitled 'SEALS'. Thinking of how complex and useful his own seal (to hold the Kyuubi at bay) was, he decided to take a look. Within this portion of the scroll, Naruto discovered the one seal that would change his destiny forever, and grant him the power he needed to conquer.

"Reality Clone Seal", Naruto read off slowly, ideas already starting to form within his head.

According to the footnote below the drawing of the seal, this would apparently anchor a Shadow Clone to reality, permanently (or at least until it was killed). While normally, this seal would take up about half of a high-level Jonin's chakra supply; this had no effect on Naruto, who had as much chakra as a Kage. Granted, this would only allow him to perform the seal 5 times a day before his supply would be exhausted (while still maintaining about 200 clones a day), he could still use it over the course of a couple of weeks, and start creating an army of permanent clones… actual humans.

Not wasting any time whatsoever, Naruto started practicing the seal on a spare copy of the scroll, trying to master the way it was drawn. Luckily, penmanship had always been one of his fortes, leading to him being able to draw it somewhat perfectly within the next half an hour. As soon as he had gotten it down, he called over a clone from each of the elements, and slowly but surely wrote the correct seal on each of their bodies, then Naruto proceeded to inject the needed chakra amount in to each seal before falling asleep and watching the rest of the clones disperse.


	2. Chapter 2

Copycat Regime

A Naruto Fanfiction

When Naruto awoke the next morning, he was aware of the sounds of a fight taking place somewhere near his body. He opened his eyes to see two copies of him fighting, using what looked to be fire and water jutsu respectively. The techniques didn't seem to be too advanced, as they were only bullets of fire and water, not complicated jutsu at all. As Naruto realized these were obviously his fire clone and water clone, he overlooked the rest of the area to try and find his other three doppelgangers.

He quickly located the earth clone, who seemed to have dug a hole into the dirt, and was apparently building what looked to be an underground lair. Naruto ran over to the clone, wondering why he was building this type of structure.

"What are you doing, Earth?" questioned the original Naruto.

"Just building our new hideout, Boss!" replied Earth while concentrating on moving a pile of dirt.

"Why would we need a hideout?" asked the now confused Naruto.

"Well, wouldn't it be suspicious if a person were to find us all training here? They would realize that you were building an army of clones, and there are certain ninja; like Sasuke and a Jonin, who would be able to copy the jutsu you have learned" answered Earth in a 'you already know this' voice.

"Oh… I guess I knew that, obviously if you did. I'll create some more earth clones today so you will have help expanding the underground compound for us!" the original stated with excitement.

"Thanks, Boss! I could definitely use the help. You should go and check on Wind and Lightning, I think they were going to kill each other…" said a worried Earth while pointing to the other side of the clearing.

"Got it!" yelled Naruto before running to where the clone had directed him.

As he arrived at his destination, he was shocked to feel a humongous gust of wind come from the clone with a tornado insignia, before seeing a cut appear in the ground. He watched the cut continue on its way to the opposing clone, who had to be the lightning clone. Lightning tried using what looked like a web of lightning to block the attack, but it quite easily broke through the shield and hit the clone, doing minor damage that would be healed within the day (at least with Naruto's regeneration powers, which had been passed on to each of the clones).

"Hey! What do you two think you are doing?" Naruto loudly questioned the two.

"We're just practicing our new jutsu, Boss! Just like Fire and Water! It's fine!" laughed Wind.

"Yeah, we need to get stronger so we can help you out on your dream to become Hokage, and a ruler, right?" inquired Lightning.

"Well… I guess so. I just don't want you to hurt yourselves" Naruto shrugged while internally he was quite worried.

"Haha! Boss, we're not real people… we're you. It won't hurt us or you! We don't feel pain, duh!" grinned Wind, like this was obvious information.

"Really? Are you serious? This… this gives me an edge over every single opponent. I have disposable weapons… who feel no pain whatsoever. Even more, I can create hundreds of you with time!" smiled Naruto, imagining the possibilities that this could bring to his future.

The two clones quickly went back to battling, figuring that their master was going to be in thought for quite a while now. Naruto started to walk around the field, amazed by how quickly his life was turning for the best. He would soon have an army, unmatched by any other currently in the Elemental Nations. He only had to train, and so… Naruto quickly began his training regime.

That day ended with the summoning of 5 more earth clones, who would all be subordinate to the original Earth, who was thrilled to have 5 workers to help him with the building of their lair. Naruto still had a bit of chakra left (a bit more than normal, apparently his chakra capacity was growing each day he summoned the clones?), and so he decided to practice his chakra control. He only knew of one so far, and that was the one he had learned while in the Academy; The Leaf Exercise.

All he had to do was stick a leaf to a part of his body with only chakra keeping it there, he had mastered this a while ago, so he decided to make it a bit more advance and added one more leaf to his body. This automatically completely ruined his mastery of the exercise. He ended up spending the rest of the day on this exercise, finishing the day with 3 leaves on his body at the same time. His clones had continued their fighting and building throughout this time. The compound now extended 10 feet below the surface, and was about 20x20 feet. The other clones had each mastered their respective jutsu, and would work on their next one tomorrow.

The rest of the week continued in much the same way, giving new jutsu, clones, and control to Naruto's repertoire, along with building the base for his training. By the final day, Naruto had 6 of each elemental clone, giving him 30 loyal soldiers. Of course, he was smart enough to have them transform at any point that training was not taking place. As such, Naruto had attached a small bag on to his belt, containing 30 small pebbles when in public.

Along with the clones who had mastered about 3 jutsu for each of the respective elements, Naruto himself had been reading the Forbidden Scroll very closely, looking to find any more jutsu that were available for use by him. Under the Sealing section, he had found a few useful seals, and a few EXTREMELY useful seals. As such, he currently had a gravity seal on his body, for 1.5x normal gravity, training his body to move faster and making his bones much stronger.

The compound was coming along quite nicely as well. Now being 120 feet underground, with a hidden stairway inside a hollowed out tree, and stretching 700x700 feet in length and width, it had a lot of room for the clones to train and practice their jutsu in. Sadly, the training would stop tomorrow, because it was the day Naruto had been looking forward to for a long time. He would need all his clones for this day; at least he thought he would. The next day, he was being assigned his team, and meeting his sensei.


	3. Chapter 3

Copycat Regime

A Naruto Fanfiction

As Naruto walked into the Academy the next morning, he noted that the room seemed to be unusually loud for this time of day. Of course, he attributed this to the fact that the other students were just extremely excited to finally become full-fledged ninja. This isn't to say that Naruto himself wasn't excited about this prospect, but he just was very tired from his late night training, not to mention the full week of training that he had just put himself through. As he walked up this his normal desk, he was stopped by Kiba Inuzuka, who was being his usual brash self.

"Oi, Naruto! What the hell do you think you're doing here? You failed, remember? Idiot!" laughed the canine user.

"Oi, Kiba! Don't you notice the forehead protector on my head? I obviously passed, fucking moron" Naruto stated clearly while glaring at the Inuzuka.

"Hey! Don't call me that! How did someone like you even pass—" Kiba started to question before being cut off.

"EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" screamed Iruka Umino, the instructor.

Immediately, every student in the class sat down, well aware of the pain that the teacher could bring to each and every one of them if they were not to listen to his command. Naruto especially was aware of the horrors that this teacher could bring, even if he might have been an important person of his, Iruka Umino knew how to bring pure evil down upon his classroom, and thus he could control them all. Legend has it that he is the true Hokage of the village, and Sarutobi is just one of his many creatures that he has created with his GODLY POWERS OF CREATION AND DEATH. WITH THESE POWERS-

"NARUTO, STOP MAKING UP STORIES FOR THE AUTHOR!" yelled Iruka.

"Hehe, sorry sensei!" apologized the blonde boy.

"Now, class, today is the day that you will finally become shinobi and kunoichi of the Leaf village, and be sorted into your respective teams. You will meet your sensei who will help guide and train you until you become Chuunin. I trust you all know to uphold the law of the village, and to keep your senses on the missions that you will endure. I care for all of you, and hope that you all stay safe while defending Konoha!" Iruka passionately declared to his students, only to sweat drop when he saw they were all talking to one another.

"HEY! KNOCK IT OFF! DO YOU WANT TO GET SORTED INTO YOUR TEAMS OR NOT!" questioned the teacher in his loud voice.

"YES, Iruka-sensei!" yelled the children in excitement.

"All right, the teams are as followed… Team One: -" Naruto blocked out Iruka's words until he heard his own name.

"Team Seven: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha" Iruka stated with a shiver at the sheer destruction that this team would bring.

The reactions were varied among the team members. Naruto and Sakura both held a mixture of happiness and utter despair. While Sasuke was seen with his head on the desk and many would declare that he was even crying a tiny bit during that day. Though, if one were to state that, Sasuke was sure to catch wind of it and try and kill the person and their entire family.

"Now, the Jonin will be showing up soon enough, so just wait here until your sensei shows up for your team!" Iruka smiled at his class as he was sending them off to the cruel world of a shinobi.

As the minutes and hours ticked by, Team Seven was soon the only team left waiting for their sensei. Iruka had gotten bored a long time ago and left them to wait alone. Of course, this gave the team members time to talk.

"Naruto! How did you even graduate?" Sakura asked him with suspicion.

"Oh… I killed Mizuki" Naruto replied with a calm voice.

Dead silence is what he heard after his answer. Even Sasuke was just staring at him with his mouth open wide. This continued for a while, until Sakura started to laugh a tiny bit, thinking that Naruto was just trying to prank them.

"Haha, that's funny… Naruto. Now, really, how did you pass?" she asked again.

"I told you, I killed Mizuki. He was a traitor, and I killed him" Naruto once again stated calmly.

As the other two were given time to process this information, a head of silver hair appeared in the doorway of the classroom. As the body walked fully in, they could see that it was a man with a standard Jonin outfit, and a mask covering up the lower half of his face while his headband covered his left eye.

"Yo, I can already tell that you will… annoy me. Meet me on the top of the roof" he told the three before poofing away in a Shunshin.

The three students only stared at the spot that he had been in, before Naruto shrugged and started walking up the steps to the roof. Sasuke and Sakura quickly realized that they needed to start moving too, and so quickly filed away the information of Naruto killing Mizuki for later, and then headed in the same direction as Naruto. As they reached the top of the roof, they noted that Naruto was just sitting down next to Kakashi, and so they walked over to the same spot and sat next to the boy.

"Okay, you three, time to learn a bit of info about each other! Now, why don't you tell me your name, likes, dislikes, skills, and dream for the future!" Kakashi smiled with too much happiness "You first, Pinkie!"

"Don't call me Pinkie! Uh… my name is Sakura Haruno, I like Sasuke, and his underwear. I dislike Ino-pig, Naruto-baka, and the newly-installed cameras at Sasuke's compound. I... uh, I guess I'm decent at chakra control and poison-making. My dream for the future, is to marry Sasuke, have his children, and hopefully raise those children to become great Sasuke clones!" passionately declared Sakura.

Needless to say, Sasuke, Kakashi, and even Naruto were extremely freaked out by what the pink-haired girl had just stated, and Sasuke was afraid for his virginity. Kakashi knew right away that he would have to beat this girl until she understood that she was acting like a stalker and that she would never get ANY guy with that kind of attitude towards them.

"Uh, right… Blondie, you're next…" Kakashi moved on.

"Blondie… yeah. My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I love ramen, clones, and I used to like Sakura-chan… I'm not sure if I do anymore" Naruto answered while looking warily at the girl "Uh, I don't like Sasuke, though I might be willing to try and be friends (Sasuke looked surprised), I dislike people who try to put others down, and dream-crushers! I can make a lot of Kage Bunshin, which can be useful! They let me do a lot of neat things! My dream for the future is to become Hokage of the village… and maybe do a bit more than that" he finished with a smirk.

"Riiiight, now you, duck-ass" Kakashi grinned while pointing to the last Uchiha, who glared.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like tomatoes and fire. I dislike most people, though I'm willing to work with my team, and I hate coconuts. I'm good at fire jutsu and taijutsu; I also have a decent speed. My ambition for the future is to revive my clan (he glared and Sakura while shaking his head in the negative) and to kill a certain man. Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke stated, giving more information than he had previously been planning to give.

"Well, isn't that exciting!" Kakashi smiled down at the three before gaining a more serious face.

"Tomorrow, you will have a test. This test has a 66% failure rate, of the 27 graduates, only 9 will become Genin. Have fun!" Kakashi finished with another grin, before shunshin-ing away, leaving his three students to complain to the wind.


End file.
